"All of my playlists and all of my relationships with the songs within them are so nostalgia-based. I know exactly where I was and with who when I hear them and that's why the songs that are my favourites are so important to me."

Lucy Boynton

Photos by James Potter

It's a very wet Wednesday afternoon when Lucy Boynton and Justin H. Min, stars of writer-director Ned Benson's The Greatest Hits, arrive at Rough Trade Soho. As dreary as a grey day in late-March can be, it's our experience that weather is no match for avid music fans, particularly when a no holds barred exploration of the vinyl racks is the sweet agenda for the next half hour. As is tradition for Shoplifting, we ask the two actors to select records that speak to them personally, that were formative or hold some sort of story or special meaning.

The Greatest Hits

Harriet (Lucy Boynton) finds art imitating life when she discovers certain songs can transport her back in time – literally. While she relives the past through romantic memories of her former boyfriend (David Corenswet), her time travelling collides with a burgeoning new love interest in the present (Justin H. Min). As she takes her journey through the hypnotic connection between music and memory, she wonders – even if she could change the past, should she?

When both have finished browsing, I ask them why they decided to work on the film and how their own love of music played a part in that decision. Lucy tells me that for her, music really grounded the story and that the unrealistic elements of the script actually resonated with her own reality. "When I read the script, I read it from the perspective of it being a sci-fi kind of film because of the time travel, but then the second that I looked at my own playlists, I realised that I'm doing the exact same thing as this character. All of my playlists and all of my relationships with the songs within them are so nostalgia-based. I know exactly where I was and with who when I hear them and that's why the songs that are my favourites are so important to me." She continues to say that these nostalgic rituals are "the closest thing that we can come" to real time travel.

For Justin, his attraction was immediate after realising director Ned Benson's unique clear-cut approach. "I think Ned was so specific about his music choices. You don't get this a lot in scripts, but he actually had music in it already and most of the song choices stayed the same throughout. I remember listening to the songs and kind of reading the script along with them and I was immediately struck by like, wow, this is going to be so powerful with the combination of the soundtrack and the story."

Discover which titles Lucy and Justin selected from the racks below.

The Greatest Hits streams on Disney+ on 12th April.

Sigur Rós - ( )

Justin: So the first album I chose is by Sigur Rós. Man, this is... I don't know, would you describe them as experimental? I mean, it was the first non-traditional, melodic kind of sound I've ever heard. It's so hypnotic and it's also so fun too. I just remember feeling a certain type of way after listening to this, being like, wow, music can do this even without words I understand, or words at all. So yeah, it's a very special record for me.

Various - Back To The Future OST

Lucy: In contrast, I went for the Back To The Future soundtrack and the reason is twofold. So one, I first saw this film at one of the big outdoor screenings they do in parks and I must have been like 10 or 11 and they did one for Back To The Future and my parents took me. It was just me and them, just before that phase where you start to find your parents' company really embarrassing! The screen was huge and it was just a perfect summer night in Greenwich Park. When it's on that big a screen I think you are so at the mercy of a film and this is a perfect creation, it's an unbelievable film and the accompaniment of that and the experience was just unforgettable. And two, it's also a tribute to the fact that a score of a film, or the soundtrack to a film, makes the experience as well. It tells the audience how to feel and when and kind of guides you through that.

"...it doesn't matter how many times you hear that song, it still hits and it's kind of like a seminal song of the film."

Justin H. Min

Jamie xx - In Colour

Justin: The other album I chose is by Jamie xx and the song that's in our movie is Loud Places...gosh, we listened to that song so many times. But it doesn't matter how many times you hear that song, it still hits and it's kind of like a seminal song of the film. It just makes me very emotional and it's kind of in myself and Lucy's final scene together, so I just have really fond memories of it and Jamie xx is just so talented.

Beach House - B-Sides and Rarities

Lucy: Secondly, I chose Beach House. The song that's in our film is New Romance and it's at a point in the film where it just feels like such a release. It feels like my character, but I think both of our characters, have taken such a new turn to really invest in one another and live in the present and I think for the audience, you feel such a sigh of relief for them. And then it feels as though you're going into this uncharted territory and this song has such an explosion in it where it just feels like the embodiment of that.